W. Kamau Bell is tackling the legacy of Bill Cosby in a new documentary. Today, the director and comedian announced We Need to Talk About Cosby, a four-part docu-series set to hit Showtime next year, and shared the first trailer for the project.
The series juggles the reputation Cosby built as “America’s Dad” with the horrific serial abuser he was behind closed doors. In its first trailer, Bell — known for similarly thoughtful content like the docu-series United Shades of America with W. Kamau Bell, the podcast Politically Re-Active, and the book Do the Work: An Anti-Racist Activity Book — attempts to reconcile these opposing personas as a comedian inspired by Cosby himself.
“I am a child of Bill Cosby,” Bell says. “I’m a Black man and a comic born in the ’70s. Bill Cosby had been one of my heroes. But this? This was fucked up.”
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Juxtaposing interviews with comedians inspired by Cosby with victims detailing their encounters with him, the docu-series also includes archival footage of the man himself, as Bell asks the question: “How do we talk about Bill Cosby?”
We Need to Talk About Cosby premieres at the Sundance Film Festival on January 22nd and hits Showtime on January 30th, when all four episodes will be available to stream. Watch the trailer for the docu-series below.
Since being released from prison due to a procedural technicality, Cosby — who has been accused of rape, drug-induced sexual assault, sexual battery, and child sexual abuse by more than 60 women — floated the idea of going on a comedy tour before changing his mind.
He’s also used his platform to make the lovely remarks that “mainstream media are the insurrectionists” and that R. Kelly “was railroaded” in the latter’s sex trafficking trial. Meanwhile, Kanye West recently hired Cosby’s lawyer to aid in his efforts to free Larry Hoover from prison.
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